Indrajala wrote:It seems the real successor to Bodhidharma was someone other than what the official records tell us.

Any thoughts?

Well, one may find in Japan a lot of art related to sexual topic... one of my favorite I have seen years ago in my friend's shop in Kyoto - Gion area... it was scroll with seven gods, among them is Mahakala and Sarasvati. So Sarasvati is t he only lady among 7 dieties, and on this scroll they all enjoyed group sex with extremely precise details of sexual organs... it was astonishing and beautiful, real piece of art. I regret thet I did not take it at that time.

Bodhidharma was sometimes depicted on scrolls with a prostitute, one i remember was with a lady leaning on his head, she was smaller. Maybe it expresses deeply rooted shinto sexual tradition in Japan. Sex is part of an old religion. I do not think he had transmitted dharma to prostitute, there is no record of it. But his famous student Eka Daishi was frequent guest at prostitute houses, in fact it was place where he lost his arm. According to Tunhuang scrolls saved by our Tibetn brothers Eka Daishi also liked wine and other very worldly things... all story started after he gave dharma to nr 3 - Sosan. Apparently Eka disciples tried to take him out of wine shops and brothels, but it did not work at all